Don't Call It Leave
by Subterraneangem
Summary: One-shot for Honor in Duty. Takes place after Chapter 6. Optimus and Ratchet order Terabyte to take a month's medical leave on Griffin Rock. Bringing Skyquake and Raf with her, the young team gets a long overdue break from the war.


**Don't Call It Leave**

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 **Disclaimer: I do not own the Transformers.**

 **Okay, I know it's been ages since I posted anything guys, and unfortunately my schedule doesn't look like it's going to let up any time soon, but here is a nice fluffy one shot as a peace offering. Hope to see all my usual readers here, and I hope you all enjoy!**

 **As always, reviews are always loved and will be replied to!**

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"Terabyte, you are being temporarily reposted to Griffin Rock-"

She unwittingly tuned out the rest of what the Prime had to say, her processors locking up on the location she was being reposted to. The tiny femme's ruby optics narrowed as she glared between Ratchet, Jetfire, Skyquake, and the Prime.

Black finials pinned back in displeasure, she interrupted her tone carefully level, "Griffin Rock?"

"It's an island Autobot outpost somewhere off of Maine." Cliffjumper explained, his sky blue optics twinkling with amusement.

"I know what Griffin Rock is." She made a face at him from behind her dark mask before glowering at the red and white medic standing to the Prime's right. "This is medical leave isn't it."

Skyquake laid a massive gray hand over her shoulders, stilling the growl building in her engine. Her already flared armor puffed up defiantly as she prepared to argue, but she let the jet speak, "Consider it an assignment to assist the Autobots posted there."

Optimus rumbled in agreement, "The Rescue Bots are young. They would have much to learn from you, lieutenant."

The little black and navy two-wheeler sighed, knowing she wasn't going to win this argument, outnumbered as she was eleven to one, counting the humans. Terabyte crossed her arms over her chest. "Yes sir."

She knelt down to look at Raf, who'd walked over to put an encouraging hand on her knee. Cocking her helm at the boy, the spy swept a brief scan over him with slightly brighter optics, scowling minutely at the results that came back. The results still informed her of trace amounts of Energon in the boy's blood stream, intertwined in his very DNA, which had yet to return to normal after the incident with Megatron.

It had been six months since the boy had come into contact with the Dark Energon and had had his systems purged with pure Energon. By all rights, if Ratchet's theory that his body would readjust over time were true, that readjustment would at least have become noticeable by now. However, if anything, Raf's altered DNA had only further accepted the left-over traces of Energon.

He needed medical leave just as much as she did, and it would do him well to interact with other children his age.

The femme laid a gentle finger on Raf's helm, stroking his spiky brown hair before standing back up and looking at the Prime. "Permission to bring Raf as an accompaniment to my mission?"

"Really?" Raf's fleshy features lit up, his brown eyes brightening with excitement.

Optimus cocked an optic ridge at the two of them with amusement in his optics, an emotion they'd all seen much more of since his time as Orion Pax. "Permission granted, so long as his parents' consent is gained."

She opened her mouth to both thank him and request one more thing, but the Prime chuckled and nodded before she could, "Skyquake may accompany you also, should he so please."

Terabyte smiled gratefully beneath her mask, bowing lightly and stumbling through her thanks, "Thank you my lo- Orio- Optimus."

 **Later That Week**

The four young bots and their five human partners stood perfectly still, lined up as though for show, staring at her, Raf, and Skyquake.

When no one seemed eager to begin introductions, Terabyte took a small step forward, bowing slightly. "Good orn, Rescue Bots, I am-"

"A Decepticon!" The orange helicopter mech squealed, suddenly shaking himself from the stupor his whole team was in and cowering behind the larger red mech that resembled a fire-truck. "Quick someone kill it! Kill it! Ohhh! Call Optimus!"

She went stiff at the mech's words, her optic ridges pulling into a small scowl that she quickly removed from her expression. Choosing to ignore the alternately glaring, cowering, curious, and analysing gazes of the Rescue Bots, the two-wheeler knelt before the five humans.

Addressing the oldest of the group, a white-haired male with what the internet identified as a 'mustache' and a blue human Enforcer's uniform, Terabyte extended her hand politely, "Chief Charles Burns, a pleasure to meet you. I am sure the Prime informed you of our coming and purpose?"

"Uh, yes. Lieutenant Terabyte." The man replied, somewhat nervously placing his hand in her comparatively large one, allowing her to gently shake his hand. "As you know, I'm Chief Burns, this is my family: Kade, Graham, Dani, and Cody Burns. Heatwave?"

The red one, obviously the leader of the group, nodded and cleared his vents, muttering, "Prime never said she was a minicon…"

Behind her, Terabyte was aware of Skyquake's looming, growling presence and she stood up from her kneeling position, brushing his arm briefly as she rose. Ignoring Heatwave completely, she looked at the helicopter still peeking around Heatwave's elbow at her, "Good orn, Blades. You have nothing to fear from me."

"I bet that's what you tell them all… right before you eat their sparks!"

She smirked a little at that, lowering her battle mask and smiling warmly at the orange mech. "I swear your spark is in no danger of being eaten, by myself or my friend. We are Decepticons no more."

"Oh, well duh, of course not. Eating sparks? That's silly, right?" Blades scrambled out to look down at her from where he stood a helm taller than her.

Then he craned his neck to look up at Skyquake, towering over a helm and shoulders over him. Blades let out a little squeak and grabbing Terabyte's shoulders, making a rather comical attempt of hiding behind her slight frame. Skyquake's deep chuckle made the bot peek over her helm in curiosity.

"Optimus did not mention that these Autobots were mere sparklings." Skyquake commented, smiling in a wistful fondness at Blades' antics.

Terabyte smiled up at him, noting an old sadness darkening his optics as he met her gaze. She never got to be what these bots were. He hadn't either, not for very long at least. Young, naïve, and light, free of the burdens of war that she had been plunged into at such a young age. She looked away, not wishing to dwell on such things, "As I was saying, I am Terabyte, this is Skyquake, and this is Raf."

The human boy waved shyly at Cody, who was about the same age. The blond-haired boy waved back, grinning widely.

"If you aren't Decepticons, why do you have to look so scary?"

The spy cringed at the question, while Skyquake just roared with laughter at Blades' query, and the innocent seriousness in his voice. She vented lightly, "I wear these colors as a reminder of the horrors that I am capable of, so that I never return to them."

"Wow." The short-haired femme human breathed, sounding surprised, "Don't you think you're being a bit hard on yourself? I mean, why torture yourself with the past when you can just move on?"

Chief Burns looked like he was about to silence his daughter, but then the one called Graham spoke up, "Dani's right. Sometimes we just need to forgive and forget."

She cleared her vents sharply, hissing and clenching her fist as an impulse washed over her, sending an ache through her power lines. The femme's armor flared, then flattened against her frame a few times and she snapped her mask up to cover the grimace twisting her expression.

Skyquake was right behind her in a moment, a hand supporting her back as she tried to hold her balance. She let his EM field envelope her in a bubble of strength she could draw from. She hated this weakness, this lack of control, this feeling of helplessness that was everything she'd spent her whole life ensuring she would never have to feel again.

Her voice was slightly shaky as she whispered, "Sky…?"

The mech merely rubbed her back gently, shaking his helm minutely. Her engine whined softly, "How long?"

"I'll let you know. Trust me, I will give it to you when it is time."

She frowned at the somewhat evasive answer, but she thought little of it at the time. Clearing her vents harshly and forcing her composed appearance to show again, the femme nodded lightly to the group of bots, "It is a pleasure to meet you all. I look forward to spending the next two orns here."

 **One week later (approx ½ an orn)**

Terabyte hissed as Skyquake injected her next dose of the diluted sedatives Ratchet had put together for her, then sighed with relief a few moments later as they began taking effect on her systems. The helm-ache building faded in a handful of klicks, and her whole frame relaxed contentedly.

She growled at how her engine's rough whining cycling almost instantly smoothed out to a happy purr. She rose up from where she'd seated herself in a quiet secluded corner for the last of the time before the dose, not wanting to be seen in the condition that this accursed addiction left her in.

Closely followed by Skyquake, she stepped onto the launch pad in the fire station, her finials flicking back and forth of their own accord, scanning around her and focusing in on the sounds coming from the base below as the pad lowered them down.

Strangely enough, the bots' headquarters were silent, seemingly empty.

The little femme cocked her helm, searching the room curiously, following her finials as they tracked minute sounds and vibrations, spreading out and swaying to catch as much input as possible. She glanced at Skyquake, who looked equally confused at the near silence.

"Oh! Hi, guys!"

To her shame, Terabyte jumped at the boy's voice, loud to her tuned and focussed audials. He laughed, pushing up his red glasses and grinning up at them, his face a little bit flushed. She was about to ask what was going on, when another voice hollered, "Ready or not, here I come!"

Raf let out a little squeak, gesturing rapidly and running off to a corner and disappearing behind a large stack of cargo crates. "Quick, hide!"

Instinctively, the spy sprang behind the crates with the boy, easily pressing her armor in and curling up to hide effectively beside him. Too late, she realized there was no way Skyquake could take cover with them and she watched from her position as the confused jet looked around, in the end crouching behind one of the fire trucks, though his wings still showed partially.

/For what reason are we hiding?/ Skyquake sent her, his wary glyphs indicating that he wasn't sure if they had just become involved in play or battle.

She sent back the equivalent of a bemused shrug, glancing at Raf with raised optic ridges, adjusting her voice to approximately a human whisper, "What is going on?"

"It's a game!" Raf replied, his eyes widening as they heard footsteps. Before Terabyte could enquire further, the boy was covering her mask with both of his hands.

"Aha!" Kade's voice rang out victoriously. Moments later a high-pitched scream echoed through the base, followed by, "Whoa, whoa, hey! Chill out! No guns!"

At that, Terabyte had a pretty good idea who had just been found, and she vaulted over the crates that had been her shelter, running over to where Skyquake stood with his giant machine gun a mere foot away from Kade's annoyed and somewhat panicky face.

She stepped between the young man and the green gladiator's gun, touching Skyquake's hand with a smile, her red optics glittering with amusement. "It's a game, Sky."

"The flesh-bag touched my wing-cons." The mech snarled, a childish pout in his voice that only she could recognize behind his angry tone and harsh glare.

"He didn't mean to, and I am sure he will not do it again."

"Do it again?" Kade exclaimed indignantly, crossing his arms defiantly, "Heck, yeah, I'll do it again, your ex-Con friend just tried to blow me to kingdom come!"

" _Kade_!" Dani hissed, sharply elbowing her older brother in the side, earning an annoyed grumbling from the red-haired man.

Terabyte locked optics with Skyquake, quirking an optic ridge at him as if to say, 'Really?' The mech growled again and subspaced his gun with a huff. "What is this game?"

Just then Cody came out with the rest of the rescue team, all grinning and laughing. He laughed, "You guys haven't ever played hide and seek?"

"Will our guests be joining us in this training exercise?" Chase asked, dead serious.

"Training exercise?" Skyquake cocked his helm in curiosity, his interest clearly captured. Simultaneously Terabyte somewhat hesitantly said, "Hide and seek?"

Raf and Cody shared a glance and beamed, "Yeah! It's a game." The blond boy ran over to the emergency fireman's pole, "Okay, so one person stands here, and they close their eyes and count to thirty. While they're counting, everyone else finds a place in the base to hide, then the person counting has to try and find you."

"Whoever gets found first has to search in the next round."

She smiled brightly behind her mask. She knew this game. She and Smokescreen used to play it before… Skyquake looked thoughtful, considering the simple game before shrugging.

"Except we're adding a new rule." Raf said quickly, pushing up his glasses again. "This time, when you find someone, you also have to catch them for it to count."

Boulder hummed thoughtfully, "All of us bots will have to turn off our sensors, so we're on equal ground."

All the Cybertronians in the room simultaneously swayed as they regained their balance after shutting down so much of their sensory systems. They would all now have to rely solely on an approximately human level of visual and audial input. Terabyte, Skyquake, and Blades all staggered a little bit, glancing at each other with knowing smirks, all of them losing much more sensory data than the others.

Terabyte gave a feral grin, her mask shielding her expression, but not covering the eager gleam in her scarlet optics. "Shall we then?"

"27, 28, 29, 30!"

She flung open her optics and spun around, her optics roaming through the general area first before she began her hunt. Terabyte crouched down to look under the emergency vehicles, then counted them to make sure Heatwave wasn't among them. She still couldn't believe she'd fallen for that.

Terabyte found Skyquake first, without hardly looking for him. Poor mech's wings didn't make it easy for him to conceal himself among the human-sized objects in the base.

The femme flattened her armor to her frame and crept towards the crate stack, in spite of its obviousness. Because, in spite of its obviousness, there was almost always someone hiding there. Smirking behind her mask, the femme crawled silently on top of the pile, peeking over the edge and stretching her clawed hands down towards her prey.

Moments before she touched the human girl, Dani's head jerked up and she let out a squeak of surprise as Terabyte picked her up by the back of her flight suit.

"Caught you." The spy said cheerily, putting the short-haired pilot down.

"How do you do that?" Dani asked incredulously, grinning wryly. "You hide just as much when you're seeking!"

She merely shrugged lightly before scampering off in search of her next target. Which turned out to be a rather embarrassed Chase, who had not required very much searching or chasing on her part. Shortly after that, she caught Blades, Cody, and Graham all packed in one supply closet. Next she found Kade, then Heatwave, then Boulder, then Raf.

Raf had given her the best chase, but in the end his still recovering systems ran out of energy and Terabyte captured the boy and gave him a ride back to the starting point.

Terabyte grinned as Skyquake began counting, wincing at the sharp stab of pain through her processors, the stab of a nearly irresistible urge to snuff his spark. She shook her helm harshly and catapulted herself to the top of the crate stack, then up into the rafters, creeping quietly over the sturdy beams, her biolights dimmed and her armor clamped down.

The spy wobbled slightly, forgetting for a moment that her sensory net was disabled, making her giggle quietly to herself. No wonder the humans were so clumsy if this was all the more sensory data they got.

She made her way over to the perfect hiding spot that she'd noticed a few rounds ago that she wanted to try out. Dangling by her pedes from the ceiling fan, she swung around a couple times, making a goofy face at Skyquake's back as she hung upside-down, earning a snort of unsuccessfully muffled laughter from Raf as he sought out an unoccupied hiding place.

The little femme smiled at the warming, yet painful wave of memories that the boy's bright laughter always brought her. Perhaps one day she would be able to keep her promise and find Smokey. Until then, she would protect this child who bore such resemblance to him.

Flipping off of the fan with a clumsier than usual flip, the Autobot femme tucked herself in between two close together pillars, a space just barely big enough to hold her slight form. Pressing herself against the wall as much as she could, she nodded faintly with self-satisfaction.

She knew she'd fit perfectly in this spot.

For the next three breems she watched with amusement as Skyquake hunted down the various kids and bots in their positions, all of whom she could see clearly from her vantage point. Once the green jet had found and caught everyone else, she could barely contain her laughter as the mech walked directly beneath her, and even looked straight up at her several times, still not finding her.

Several of the others had seen her and now muffled their own snickering as the jet continued to search for her. It got to the point where she was creeping over the rafters, following after her supposed pursuer, making silly faces at him and miming his efforts, giggling quietly to herself. Between the recent dose of sedatives swirling through her systems and her sensory network being disabled, the little femme was giddy and she knew it. Perhaps she ought to have made some effort to restrain herself, but Raf's laughter and the contentedly warm glow in her spark made it worth it to her though.

/Mech, you're bad at this./ She commed Skyquake dryly, grinning widely as he snorted below her, shaking his helm fondly.

/I have no sensors. How do the squishies manage?/

/Shall I give you a hint?/

The green jet beneath her laughed, flicking his wings in a mix of annoyance and amusement. The rust red accents on the edges of his wings glinted in the light. /Isn't that cheating?/

Terabyte sent back a cheeky, contemplative glyph, then made the mech wait a couple more minutes. He half-sparkedly looked in a closet. She quirked an optic ridge at him. There was no way she would have fit in that gap.

/Really, Sky? I'm not that little…/

He leaned against a beam that connected to the rafter she was perched on. His engine gave a low, purring rumble that she could feel roll through her frame, making her spark flare brightly. /How long have you been watching me?/

The femme sent him a shrug, /You're not going to find me by just standing there./

Skyquake looked all around him, glancing up briefly, his optics flashing brighter for an astrosecond, but he showed no signs of having actually seen her. She waited for him to step around the corner, then pounced down from the rafters to pad along stealthily behind him.

Her black pointed feet had hardly touched the floor though when suddenly the army green mech whirled around and grabbed her middle, scooping her up and spinning her around the air. A startled squawk tore from her vocalizers, followed by a giggle when he stopped and her dampened sensory net left her dizzy, stumbling forward into him when he set her down.

The mech caught her against his frame and he grinned down at her, his engine rumbling with laughter. "Gotcha!"

The spy playfully punched him, squirming as if to escape his hardly restraining grasp. She laughed, her soft voice tinkling clearly in the quiet of the room. She could hear the Rescue Bots and humans snickering and whispering about something, but she didn't mind as she grinned up at her dearest friend, the one who had been there for her from the very beginning.

"You, dear pincushion, are a very crafty mech, tricking me into thinking you didn't know where I was that whole time."

He looked down at her with fondness gleaming in his ruby optics, "I always know where you are."

She snickered, "What, like we're joined at the spark?"

The mech chuckled, but something flashed in his optics that unsettled her slightly, especially when his EM field suddenly drew away from her. Her teasing expression softened to curious concern, and the femme flicked a finial at the rest of the team who had decided to go refuel and watch a movie.

"Sky? What's wrong?"

She led him over to the Cybertronian-sized couch that the bots had in their secondary recreational area. The amount of recreational accommodations in this base stood as yet another reminder of their young age and sheltered innocence from the war. They sat down on the soft sofa, and Terabyte took in the confused, stressed, and somewhat frightened lilt of his broad wings with worry in her optics.

"I… do not know."

His spark was conflicted, his processors in chaos as they attempted to explain the tearing of his spark. Someone dear to his spark was approaching, and he could feel the pull of his spark towards it growing stronger with every passing klick. At the same time though, his spark had been growing ever closer to Terabyte, and the strange sense – it was stronger than intuition, but it was difficult to describe – he had of her location and well-being had only grown keener.

He let out a tired sigh.

Nothing to do with the spark was fully understood by Cybertronian sciences, even if it were, he knew little of how or why it did the things that it did. Even less was known of split sparks, though it was determined that extended separation of two halves put unimaginable strain on both. Megatron had kept them separated as much as possible ever since they left the Pits.

After the processor damage he'd received upon awaking on Earth, Skyquake had forgotten his own spark split twin. He had forgotten his other half. Ever since Terabyte had told him though, the memories had been returning, unlocking his clouded, troubled, life-En-stained past.

Their twin bond had grown fainter as the vorns under Megatron had gone on. Dreadwing had always been the stronger of the two of them though, whereas Skyquake had simply learned to hide the agony. Before Terabyte had walked into his life, he had nearly reached the end of his strength. His spark ached so badly that sometimes he could hardly function. He had taken countless beatings, from the enemy and from his own faction equally, for his weakness.

His spark had been fading, he had shut out the whole world, all that was left for him was the pain, physical and mental, and he had been drowning in it.

Somehow, inexplicably, this tiny, broken youngling, among the very few survivors of her home city, had lifted him from the brink of self-destructing. She wasn't even fifteen vorns of age when she'd signed up for their cause, upgraded to her adult frame a whole decavorn early.

The only explanation he could think of for his spark's strange connection to her was that it had latched onto her as a replacement of the twin connection forcibly taken from him by Megatron.

Skyquake shook his helm minutely.

She didn't press, she knew he would explain when he felt ready. The recovering little femme stiffened to prevent the shudder through her systems from showing. Errors on her HUD informed her that her activities of the day had drained the tiny Energon reserves that Ratchet had been working on rebuilding in her.

The green jet leaned forward, rubbing his face with one hand. Finally he growled lowly from his engine and she knew answers would not come today. As if somehow knowing the errors she was sweeping from her HUD, he said gently, "You need to refuel."

"We can go join the others for the movie." Terabyte agreed, smiling at him so he knew she understood. "They had said something about a 'Lord of the Rings' marathon, I believe."

She woke from recharge to a familiar searing pain through her fuel lines. Her scarlet bio-lights flickered in the dark of the room. She tightened her clawed grip, feeling her sharp claws dig into heavy armor, far too thick for her small hands to ever reach protoform.

Terabyte tucked herself further into Skyquake's side where she had slipped into recharge while the team watched. The large television screen continued to flicker with images of a battle, near the end of the movie she believed. The sounds of fighting mixed with the music in the background, but she paid neither sound nor sight of the movie much mind as her armor pressed down closer to her frame.

Her claws dug in deeper where she had latched onto a layer of the jet's chest plating. His loosely wrapped arm around her shoulders shifted slightly and she could tell he was looking down at her with concern.

The little femme shivered convulsively, her engine keening quietly.

"How much longer?"

The question was completely unnecessary. She knew full well what the mech had been doing, and she knew that by Ratchet's prescriptions, he ought to have given her the dose about two hours ago. Another harsh shudder wracked her petite frame.

"I will give it to you when it is time, Terabyte." He murmured in reply, the light static of recharge touching his voice.

Suddenly the femme tore away from him, armor flaring with rage as she leapt from the couch to the table, sending the mostly empty cubes of Energon clattering to the floor. Laying on the floor beside the table, and now covered in old Energon and broken glass, Blades groaned and blinked up owlishly at her, confusion bright in his blue visor.

"What's going on?" The orange mech asked groggily, only to be completely ignored.

"You have the nerve to call me your friend?!" She snarled, her engine growling and her energy dagger sliding down to glow bright red in the dim light. "Yet you lie to me as though you know how much it hurts!"

"Tera…"

"NO!" The femme shrieked, startling a few more of the bots awake. Skyquake stood up and reached toward her, but she hissed at him, charging up her fusion cannon, "Don't you _dare_ call me that! Don't try to tell me you care, cause if you cared you'd make it stop!"

Pain shone in his ruby optics and his wings tilted to express his desire to help her. She sneered at him and his false caring. "Terabyte, I know it hurts. I know you don't mean what you are saying, and I know you will regret this later on. Just hold on for me, just a little longer al-"

"NO!" She shrieked at him again, swinging her dagger at him as he reached for her again. Behind her raised mask, a wild grin split her lips and the incessant helm-ache lessening dramatically as a drop of his life-En rolled off the tip of the blade.

Kill him.

The master ordered her to kill him, and once she killed him she would get the lovely cure to her pain. If she killed him, this dreadful ache in her helm would go away completely.

Her scarlet optics widened with shock and she shook her helm minutely, watching the bright, glowing blue liquid drop to the floor with a tiny splash and sizzle as it faded that seemed to echo in the sudden silence. All the rescue team and humans were awake now, watching in anticipation to see what would happen. Confusion shone clear in their eyes and optics, none of them having expected such sudden rage from the composed femme.

Raf stepped forward cautiously, looking up at her with trusting optics as he scrambled up onto the table with her. "Tera?"

"Raf…" Skyquake rumbled in warning, watching his femme and the young fleshling warily.

She jumped away from the human child, crouching down and hissing at him, her weapons both still charged. Undoubtedly the boy was close enough to feel the heat of her Energon blade. Nevertheless he stepped forward and pressed his squishy hand against her mask gently, smiling faintly at her. "It's gonna be okay, Tera. We're all here for you."

The little femme flinched away from the boy's touch.

"Tera...?"

Terabyte looked into the boy's eyes, then lowered her mask carefully, slowly enough for him to move his hands out of the way. She watched him closely, fear clear in her scarlet optics. Hugging the boy gently, the dark femme glanced up at Skyquake in an attempt to judge his thoughts, expecting him to have kept them hidden.

Instead she found him standing there, a tiny vein of life-En dribbling from the palm of his hand, nothing but concern for her in his expression and posture. She stretched out her EM field to brush against his softly in apology, unsuccessfully attempting to rein in the fear in her spark.

The slave codes were too strong. She wouldn't be able to fight them forever and eventually she would cause him harm.

Skyquake came over, his motions purposefully slow and obvious as he approached, in the end kneeling beside her and joining the hug cautiously, wrapping his arms around the small femme and even smaller human child.

"We're here for you." The green jet repeated quietly, "No matter what."

 **A Week and a Half Later**

"Please pro-ceed di-rectly to the des-ig-na-ted ar-e-a in an or-der-ly man-ner, thank-you."

Terabyte made a face behind her mask, her vocalizers beginning to ache faintly from maintaining the slow, tinny 'robot' voice for the duration of the morning. She was helping with a routine city-wide drill, leading the humans to the emergency bunker beneath the city, but the drill was taking far longer than she'd expected.

Her joints were stiff from not moving all morning either.

At least Skyquake just had to fly low circles over the city, watching for any trouble with Blades. Raf had gotten to join Cody and Francine on an off-shore science project, but she got stuck with this job. She supposed it was better than not having any form of an assignment while on this 'medical leave'.

She had to admit, the past few rotations had been nice, for the most part. The withdrawal process left her exhausted and emotionally unstable, but between those stages, it had been quite refreshing.

"No ma'am, you may not in-ter-rupt this drill." The femme glanced over at Heatwave's barely contained annoyance, "Ma'am, please pro-ceed to the bun-ker. No ma'am- Mis-ter Pet-ty-paws will be just fine un-til-"

"Now, you see here, Mr. Robot, don't you patronize me!" An elderly woman in a pink dress yelled, waving her finger at Heatwave. "I don't care what sort of drill this is, you are not leaving my Mister Pettypaws home all alone."

"Why I-"

/Maintain your composure and the appropriate façade at all times, Heatwave./ Terabyte stepped over stiffly, attempting to give an automated appearance, crouching down in front of the elderly woman, casting Heatwave a short warning glare. "Where is Mis-ter Pet-ty-paws lo-ca-ted, Mis-sus Nee-der-lan-der?"

The woman put her hands on her hips and looked Terabyte over with scrutiny, " _Here_ is a helpful robot. Mister Pettypaws is at my house, stuck in the tree again, poor kitty."

"Do not wor-ry, Mis-sus Nee-der-lan-der. This un-it will re-trieve the fe-line."

She rose, running a quick search over her internal map of the island, quickly locating the woman's house and the offending tree. Tapping into a nearby satellite, she received live imagery of the fat white feline sleeping comfortably in the branches. She rolled her optics.

/I take it the woman's cat is a recurring issue?/

Heatwave simply replied with a string of angry glyphs expressing accumulated frustration. She laughed as she transformed, flashing the blue and red police lights Chief Burns had given her.

/Sky, land and fill in for me. I have a feline to retrieve./

 **Last Evening of Leave**

The large green mech lay on his front, fast asleep on roof of the fire station, his broad wings spread out wide to the soft afternoon sunshine. Occasionally his wings would twitch and the scowl on his face, his default expression, would lift into a shadow of that fond smirk.

It had been nearly a month since Optimus had stationed them here. The time of leave had been good for them both.

Terabyte sat a short distance away, her optics shuttered as she leaned her back against the short barrier of the roof. Her systems were slowed down so that by all appearances, she would be taken for in recharge also. The sun caressed her finials and masked faceplates, a light frown tugging her hidden lips downwards.

Her servos picked idly at the small gap in her armor along her outer thigh. She could feel the minute warmth that the scarlet glow she knew was there was giving off. It gave her a sour taste on her glossa. She knew her actions were in the past. That Cliffjumper and Optimus and the other Autobots had all forgiven her for the things she'd done nearly six Earth months ago.

Yet they were still her actions. And their forgiveness wouldn't give Cliffjumper back his pede, nor would their forgiveness repeal the ache in her spark every time she saw him.

 _"I never really joined the Autobot cause. Why would I have ever joined the mechs that killed my family, destroyed my home, slaughtered my friends, demolished my planet, and took Sky?"_

Her own voice echoed in her helm. Six months did nothing to lessen the vivid nature of the painful memories. Other voices swirled through her idle processors.

" _Tera, come back with us. The Decepticons have altered your memories and maybe even your core programming. You don't really believe in the cause Megatron is using you to further. You never have."_

 _"_ _ **Sorry**_ _doesn't cut it!_ _ **Sorry**_ _doesn't give him back his leg! And_ _sorry_ _sure as the Pits won't bring you back into our base as if you never betrayed us."_

 _"From what I can tell, you are a long way from being a monster, Terabyte."_

 _Sure, I trust you. I trust you to keep betraying us, no matter how many times I put my spark on the line for you, you'll just keep blowing your chances."_

The dark, conflicting downward spiral of her thoughts was interrupted by her internal proximity alarms ringing through her helm. Opening her optics, the femme didn't move as she searched briefly for the intruder, soon seeing a bright orange mech tip-toeing towards Skyquake.

The mech had his helm tilted far to the left as he watched Skyquake in his slumber. The green jet's wing flicked again and Blades jumped back, startled. When the green jet didn't wake, the young bot stepped forward again and reached out tentatively to poke his wingtip.

When he still didn't stir, Blades glanced back at her, but she shuttered her optics just before the mech could see that she was awake. She had a feeling this would be worth watching, and she didn't want her consciousness to discourage the mechling.

She watched in curiosity as the orange mech overcautiously placed one foot on Skyquake's heavily-armored back. The late afternoon sun gleamed on both of the mechs' armor. Somehow Terabyte knew her jet friend had woken, even though he'd shown no physical signs of waking. Her spark warmed at how patiently the large fighter put up with the young bot's strange actions.

Soon enough Blades had gathered the courage to clamber onto the jet's back completely and was now crouched on Skyquake's back with a look of regretful fear and uncertainty as he stared at the jet's wing-cons and the slight indent of thinner armor. Once again she shuttered her optics just as the orange mechling looked nervously her way.

Terabyte stifled a laugh when she opened her optics again to see Skyquake online his optics and give her a confused look vaguely reminiscent of a plea for help.

After a few more moments the young helicopter seemed to get over his fear and he curled up securely on Skyquake's wing-cons like a sparkling. She smiled fondly at the sight, noting a reluctant relaxing of the war-hardened ex-Con's frame. The little femme's spark gave a contented swirl at the priceless image.

The green jet's expression was an odd mixture of satisfaction and discomfort. No one touched his wing-cons, yet she knew very well that fliers had a tendency to be far more socially dependent than perhaps other Cybertronians.

/Terabyte?/

She laughed silently at his short plea through the comms. /I daresay the mech is no longer frightened of you, Sky./

For posterity's sake, the lieutenant took a still image of the two mechs, Skyquake laying on his chest with his wings to the sun, bright orange mech curled up in contented recharge on top of his wing-connectors. She smiled. It had been a long time since any of those in the war had been able to sleep so easily.

/He's already in recharge./ Skyquake commed, his glyphs indicating a touch of incredulity. /The mech seriously just curled up on my wings and fell asleep in less than a breem. How does he even do that?/

/These 'Rescue Bots' have a recharge pattern not unlike a photovoltaic kitten./ She replied with a laugh, sending him a quick databurst containing the image she'd taken of them. The mech chuckled softly, causing the bot on his back to stir slightly, then snuggle even closer to him, letting out a quiet purr.

Stretching her struts briefly, the navy and black femme rose and crossed the short distance between them, prodding Blades' limp frame gently, giggling. /He's magnetized himself to you./

/I thought magnetization protocols were removed in the upgrade to adult frame?/

/He must have activated it subconsciously./ She curled up beside him, leaning her back against his arm, relishing the combined warmth of his frame, the heated concrete, and the pleasant afternoon sun. /These bots are so young, so innocent. Optimus said that they had been in stasis for many vorns… I never thought he could mean that they had been spared the War./

While ordinarily such a thought would have sent her processors back through the haunting memories of the vorns that ought to have been her childhood, such a light feeling of ultimate contentment in her spark warmed her from her core. She felt herself release her firm hold on her flared armor, allowing it to lay comfortably relaxed against her protoform.

Chief Burns looked around the empty base and frowned minutely. Where had all the bots gone? For that matter, where had everyone gone? The man checked each of the various hang out places for the bots without luck.

At long last he headed up to the roof, knowing that sometimes Blades liked to sun himself on lazy afternoons, usually accompanied by the others. Climbing up, he saw a heap of metal shining bright in the sun, but nothing could have prepared him for what he found.

All six bots were cuddled up in a tangled heap of limbs and sleeping faces. At the base of the pile lay the colossal green jet with his wings to the sun. Curled up in the nook of his shoulders and neck was the smaller formal female bot, her battle mask retracted to reveal a dainty face graced with a serene smile. Rafael was sleeping soundly in her lap. Blades was perched right in the center of the jet's back, and Dani was laying against him fast asleep as well.

Boulder was spread out on the concrete with his helm propped up on Skyquake's leg, and Graham was eagled out on the bulldozer's chest, with Cody curled up in the scoop of Boulder's foot. Even Heatwave was among them, spreading the distance between Boulder and Skyquake, his head resting on Boulder, pedes propped up on the jet's back with one of Blades' arms wrapped tightly around on of his feet. In Heatwave's cracked open chest compartment Kade was reclined in the chair, snoring loudly.

Only Chase sat a short distance away from the group, deeply engrossed in a datapad that Chief Burns figured was most likely traffic laws. He heard a soft hum from Terabyte and looked over to watch her wrap a gentle hand possessively over Raf, at the same time unconsciously burrowing herself closer to the massive jet she'd brought with her.

The last month that their visitors from Optimus Prime had been here at Griffin Rock had been excellent. Not without trials, but newcomers rarely came without some friction. It had been good for all involved though. The Rescue team had certainly benefited from the wisdom and experience of the war-hardened bots, and all three of them were looking decidedly healthier, particularly Terabyte and Rafael.

Chief Burns sat down beside Chase, leaning his back against the police car and pulling out a book of his own, looking back fondly at his strange, mismatched family, his gaze lingering on the female Autobot, her friend, and the boy.

It would never cease to amaze him how much his family had grown, even so far as to include alien warriors from the other side of the galaxy.

Who would've thought it?


End file.
